


A Night at the Theater

by TheSofterGentlerMe



Series: Finn and The Moms of Power [11]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra and Adora in a small cameo, Day in a life, Finn and their theater group, Fluff, Gen, Multi, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28410816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSofterGentlerMe/pseuds/TheSofterGentlerMe
Summary: Finn and their theater group have been going for a few years now. A couple of days before their next show is set to start, they're all at the theater rehearsing and checking the sets as a newcomer watches the whole thing quietly. Just a usual day in the life of the theater group.
Series: Finn and The Moms of Power [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862320
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	A Night at the Theater

**Author's Note:**

> Shall we?

Finn hung upside down from the rafters, their safety harness digging into their shoulders as they carefully checked the attachment for the fresnel lens light they were inspecting. They still remembered when a light had slipped off the first time they’d ever hoisted a rig up. No one had been hurt and it'd only fallen a few feet but it had been surprising, and scary, enough that Finn had sworn that wouldn’t happen again. 

“I’m moving to the next one, Cal,” Finn said to the stage hand holding the safety line from the catwalk. Caladium nodded and fed out a little line while Finn carefully worked their way to the next one and then hung down to check the attachment. The stage below was empty, as was the group’s rule when someone was working like Finn was, but out in the seats the actors were huddled up in one group of chairs going over their lines for the show that was supposed to open that weekend and the stagehand crew were huddled up in another circle of chairs going over the various cues for lighting and stagecraft. 

Finn finished inspecting the next light, realized they were at the end of the lighting rack, and said, “Coming in, Cal.” 

Caladium nodded and carefully tended the line as Finn made their way to the catwalk and climbed over the railing and sat down with a sigh. Caladium disconnected the line and carefully attached it to the catwalk railing before sitting down next to them and handing them the check sheet. Finn signed off on the attachments and then hung the clipboard off a railing.

“I don’t know how you do that so easy,” Caladium said, looking down at Finn. 

Finn said, “Good balance. And I try not to think about the drop. Helps that I trust you on that line.” 

Caladium grinned and bumped Finn with his shoulder. 

“You’re not falling as long as I can help it,” he said. 

“See? Trust well placed,” Finn said. 

“Well I trust you the same but I’m glad you let me stay on the catwalk,” Caladium said. “It’s bad enough being on a flat grating but out there? No thank you.” 

“This from the guy who handles pyrotechnic mixtures like it’s nothing,” Finn said with a laugh.

Caladium grinned as he said, “That’s different. I’m on solid ground. Besides, we know what happens when you do.” 

Finn shook their head with a rueful smile and said, “That was an accident. We’ve all learned a lot since then.” 

“And one of those things is that we’ve learned that you don’t get to handle the pyrotechnics,” Caladium said, giving Finn a shoulder bump again before unclipping a water bottle from their belt and taking a drink before handing to Finn.

Finn shook their head, took the bottle for a drink, and looked down at the groups below. Finn had been up in the rafters all evening, as they’d drawn the straw for the first check, and hadn’t been paying attention to much on the ground. As they looked over the assembled group, Finn looked closer at the stagehand group and saw a big fluff of orange and yellow hair sitting a little back from the circled chairs. She clutched a satchel in front of her and Finn couldn’t help but feel like she was about to run out of the room. 

“Hey, Cal, is she new?” Finn said, nodding at the person as Finn handed back the water bottle. 

“The one with the orange and yellow hair?” Caladium said, clipping the bottle back to their belt.

“Yep,” Finn said. 

“Yeah, she came to the meeting last week when you were out with your moms,” Caladium said. “Said about two words. Her name’s Izzy. I think she just moved to town.” 

“Think she’ll last?” Finn said as they stood up and stretched.

“Nah, she’s way too shy for this group,” Caladium said as he stood up. 

“Who’s got the check of my check?” Finn said as they picked the clipboard off the railing. 

“It’s supposed to be Rhodo, but I haven’t seen him tonight,” Caladium said, looking at a list of assignments.

Finn shook their head and said, “He’s been flirting with Mel and they’re supposed to be doing costumes so I’d guess he’s probably back in the sewing room trying to impress them.” 

“At least he can sew, unlike that time he tried to flirt with me and shocked himself trying to wire that one light,” Caladium said with a laugh.

“He flirted with me once,” Finn said. “Brought out a big ol’ bouquet of flowers for me and read me a poem he had wrote.” 

“That’s actually really sweet,” Caladium said as he coiled up the rope they’d been using and slung it over his shoulder. 

Finn grinned as they started walking towards the ladder down and said, “Oh, I didn’t say it was bad, just not my type. The flowers were lovely. Mom put them in a nice vase on the kitchen table.”

“Well, either way, he needs to get up here and do his part,” Caladium said as they stood by the ladder. “Maybe if it didn't go well with Mel he can spot someone else from the rafters to flirt with next.” 

Finn laughed as they reached the ladder and said, “As long as he pays attention to the lighting first, I’m fine with that. I’ll send ‘em on up.” 

Finn slid down the ladder and thumped down on the stage. They walked over to the door that led to the sewing room and popped it open just in time to see Mel and Rhodo kissing over a sewing machine. They both jumped back and Finn pulled the door almost closed, leaving just a crack.

“Um, Rhodo, you’re supposed to be up in the rafters checking my check,” Finn said. “Do you… ummm… you know… do I need to find someone else?” 

Finn heard Mel snickering as Rhodo cleared his throat and said, “That’d… yeah, if you… yes, please.” 

Finn shut the door and walked out in front of the stage as they felt a blush running up their neck, and said in a loud voice to the crowd, “I need someone to check my work because Rhodo is helping out Mel.” 

“I bet he is!” one of the actors shouted out.

Finn grinned but only said a little louder, “Any volunteers? Anyone?” 

One of the stagehands named Lucy stood up and volunteered. Finn shed their safety harness and handed it to her as she came over. 

“Cal will spot you,” Finn said as they helped her put on the harness. 

“No problem,” Lucy said as she shook her scaly tail to make sure it wouldn’t mess with the harness. “I’m kind of glad Rhodo flaked. I enjoy hanging from the rafters.” 

“Then hang to your heart's content and while you’re there, make sure nothing is going to drop out of them,” Finn said as Lucy started towards the ladder. Finn made their way over to the actors and set down in the circle. 

“Kind of you to join us, director,” one of the actors teased. 

“We all have our things we gotta do. I also thought you all wouldn’t want to be dodging falling hardware,” Finn said with a smile. “So how far along in the read are we?” 

“We’ve been skipping around actually, working on stuff we thought we needed,” another person said. 

Finn nodded and said, “Sounds good. Before we start up, everyone remember there’s a final dress rehearsal the night before we open. And before you say anything, yes, Mel will have the costumes ready.” 

There was a chuckle that went around the circle as Finn continued, “I think we need to work on the second act, scene three, right before the intermission. Let’s do the most over the top read we can this time through.” 

Everyone nodded and they were soon all standing and making dramatic gestures and grand pronouncements as Finn nodded along and suggested different readings. 

“That was good but think about what it’d be like to fall and you’re grasping for a rope to save yourself,” Finn said. “Give the line the same feel.”

The actor laughed but did as asked. Soon, they’d made it through the scene and were all sitting back down. Finn nodded and said, “Want to do it just like that?”

“No!” the lead, named Gypsum, laughed. “There’s no way we do it that big. Maybe about sixty percent of that.”

“She’s right,” another actor said. “That was almost too hammy.” 

“Almost?” Finn said with a twinkle in their eye.

“No, Finn,” Gypsum said with a grin on her face. “Let’s keep it to sixty.” 

“Alright, alright, if you insist,” Finn said with a laugh and then looked at a clock at the back of the room and said, “We’re at time for tonight though. Practice and we’ll see you back in two days for the final dress rehearsal and then… opening night! Tell your friends, tell your families, and remember, it’s free so they get exactly what they paid for it.” 

The actors laughed and broke up into small groups as everyone chattered and headed for the door. Finn walked over to the stagehands who were all clustered around a diagram. They noticed Izzy standing back from the group but didn’t give it much thought as they walked into the center of the group. 

“What’s wrong?” Finn said. 

“You know that trapdoor trick in the first act?” Girt, one of the longest serving stagehands, said. 

“Yep. I thought you had it worked out,” Finn said. 

“We did too until we tried it earlier tonight,” Girt said. “It should drop Gypsum down and she should land on the crash mat. No problem so far. But the cart and track we rigged up to pull her over to the other trapdoor to come up behind the false wall isn’t fast enough. We’ve been trying to come up with ideas.” 

Finn looked at the diagram of the cart and track and scratched at their head. 

“Can we rig like a slide between them?” Finn said. 

“Not enough slope,” Girt said. 

Finn was wondering if maybe they needed to redo the setting when a quiet voice from behind everyone said, “Ummm… have you uhh… tried teflon wheels and bearings?”

Everyone turned to look at Izzy, who clutched her satchel up a little closer and looked at the floor while shuffling backwards a little bit and nervously tucking hair behind her ear. 

“Not a bad idea,” Girt said as everyone looked at her and away from Izzy. Finn thought they heard a little sigh of relief for a moment from her but didn’t really think about it as they were paying attention to Girt as she said, “That might work instead of the steel wheels. We can run graphite down the rails too. I know it’s time to go but you think we can get in tomorrow night to re-rig it and test it out just in case?” 

Finn nodded and said, “If a few of you want to stay and start the build tonight I’m still waiting on Caladium and Lucy. They’ll probably be at least twenty more minutes.” 

“Not to mention you’ll have to run Rhodo and Mel out,” Girt said with a laugh. “I’ll stay. I’ll at least get the wheels off and see if we have the other kind sitting around.” 

Everyone nodded and the group started to break up. Finn looked up to say thanks to Izzy for the idea but she was already quickly going out the door ahead of the rest of the stagehands. They shrugged their shoulders and went to the back and knocked loudly on the costume room door. 

“We’re packing up for the night!” Finn said. “If you need more time, the stagehands will be back tomorrow night and you can work then.” 

Mel shouted out that they’d be leaving in a few. Finn sat down in a chair out in the audience and took in the mostly complete set with a smile. Shortly after, Caladium and Lucy made their way out of the rafters, went backstage for a few minutes to hang up the gear, and then walked out and down to Finn. 

“Everything checked out,” Lucy said as she handed Finn the checklist. 

“Good deal,” Finn said. “You going to see Cormer tonight?” 

Lucy gave Finn a look and said, “We broke up two days ago. Where have you been?” 

“Not in the loop it would seem,” Finn said. “What happened?” 

“I dumped him,” she said. “He acted all shocked and then after it settled down asked if I thought Mel would be interested in him so it’s not like he was heartbroken or something.” 

Caladium shook his head and said, “And it sounds like Rhodo is with Mel now.”

Lucy looked at Caladium and said, “They’ve got two hands.” 

Caladium grinned and said, “I know but I got to say I’m a little interested in Cormer so I’m thinking I’ll go say hello to him before he finds that out.” 

Lucy shook her head and said, “Well best of luck to you. With that, I’m out. See you all later.”

Lucy walked out and Caladium sat down next to Finn as Finn looked out at the theater.

“What’s on your mind?” Caladium said.

“Just updating the tangled web of relationships that is our little theater group,” Finn said. “That and I was just thinking how far we’ve come in just a few years.”

“That is true. It helps that we at least asked for help every once in a while,” Caladium said looking around. 

“Hey, we might be kids but we’re kids who can do this,” Finn said, making a gesture around, a gesture that happened to include Rhodo and Mel coming out of the back hand in hand. 

Mel waved at Finn and said, “I’m finished up. You mind if Rhodo helps me with dress rehearsal to get everyone fitted just right?” 

Finn grinned and said, “Just as long as it gets done.”

Rhodo ducked his head with an awkward grin but didn’t say anything as the two left the room giggling. Caladium laughed as Finn stood up and went backstage. Finn pulled the ghost light into the center of the stage and plugged it in. Caladium followed along to the lighting panel.

“Alright, get the rest of the lights, Cal,” Finn shouted and watched as the room went dark except for the single light in the center of the stage. Finn hopped down and walked to the back of the room cheerful as Caladium came out from backstage and went out the door as Finn locked up. Finn saw Catra and Adora sitting on a bench out front talking to each other. 

“Hey, moms!” Finn waved as they came over to them. “I thought you and Aunt Glimmer and Uncle Bow had your game tonight.” 

“Naw, Capella wasn’t feeling good and Glimmer wanted to stay home so the two of us went to dinner and figured we’d walk home with you,” Catra said. 

“Probably snuck in and ate all the cake she could get her hands on again,” Adora said. “Everything go well at rehearsal?” 

“Yep, nothing new. Just the usual theater drama and excitement,” Finn said with a grin as the two stood up off the bench and they all went walking towards home. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea when I was trying to work through a block on my big fic. I wrote this partly because I always wanted to do a little bit with Finn and the theater they're a part of but also because I wanted to put in quiet little Izzy and what is probably her first time she ever took a risk in a group of people. It was weird thinking of her with that big fluffy hair, hiding her horns, and tucking her hair back and so unsure of herself when she's starting to change over in the big fic. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
